Wet Paint and Rosemary
by iphianeira
Summary: Lavender loves Parvati in so many ways. Victorian!AU.


_Written for the All You Need Is Love Competition; the Rubik's Cube Challenge; the 10 Characters, 10 Prompts Challenge; the Crazy Eights Challenge; the Amortentia Club Challenge.  
_

* * *

It was a cold sun, an icy, frigid light. Its sky hung deep in the air, grey clouds and fog indistinguishable from the pale, pallid sky. September first was dreary and dismal in 1891, when a small girl called Lavender Brown was to be of the first to board the new Hogwarts Express.

Prior to the current semester, transportation to Hogwarts was exclusively by carriage; if one was to attend Hogwarts, he would request an official Hogwarts horse-and-buggy to carry him to Hogsmeade. But this year was the year things were changing: instead of the conventional, old-hat carriage, the headmaster had arranged the construction of a whole train, which, as Lavender's Muggle father had explained to her, was a spectacular invention of the Muggles'.

But under her excitement Lavender was incredibly nervous. She had never been more than a week away from her family, and now an entire year with but one break was ahead of her. She would never admit it, but she loved her family. Her friends, too, she would miss; born to a magical mother and a Muggle father, she had been educated in a Muggle primary school and would never hasten to leave her schoolmates there.

Nevertheless, here she was at the crowded little station, waiting to do just that. Lavender had spent enough time marveling over the exquisitely designed locomotive waiting for her, but her parents had not, and therefore she'd said her goodbyes, given them each a long hug, and then left: she might as well have done so quickly.

The problem now was that there was nothing to do but get on the train, and after that, what? There was nothing else to do then but sit there quietly and oddly.

Thus, as there was nothing else she could do, that was what she did, and only a few moments had passed when another girl slid open the compartment door.

She was lovely; Lavender had received many compliments on her beauty, but surely should she acquaint herself with this girl she would forever be overshadowed. Her silky hair fell into a perfectly braided plait that curled over her left shoulder and nearly reached her hips. Her eyes were a pure dark brown, and her skin... well, to Lavender, her skin was pretty as well, but her father would not have thought so.

As if on cue, the girl began to speak exasperatedly, as if she'd been asked about her ethnicity a million times that day: "I live in the Empire, do you understand? India is still a part of Britain; I was born in the empire; it is not a problem to the headmaster."

"My apologies," Lavender replied, staring still at the girl's dark brown skin, "I did not mean to cause offense. There are not many dark-skinned people in Britain, you see."

"No, but there are many in your empire," said the girl. "I'm Parvati."

"Lavender."

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

"As it is to meet you."

What a beautiful girl, thought Lavender as Parvati sat down.

* * *

The sight was comparable to a photograph but could not be more different from one. The two girls ran, laughing, through the grounds, relishing the warm air that had so graciously come to Hogwarts the day after exams. The hills were colorful with the remnants of spring, and the small twelve-year-old girls playing in the grass completed the picturesque scene; but no photograph could ever replicate the gorgeousness of the color and the genuineness of their laughter.

"Ooooh, Lavender!" exclaimed Parvati suddenly as she happily threw a handful of grass at her friend in response to the one that Lavender had lodged at her.

"What?" asked the light-skinned girl, curious. While sillily chasing each other across the grounds was unquestionably quite fun, she would do anything Parvati wanted to do.

"We should go to the greenhouses and search for the herbs Professor Sprout grows there, and then we should cook food of our own!"

"Yes, let's!" Lavender was not one for cooking, but Parvati was, and Parvati was her best friend.

The pair giggled as they creeped softly into the safest greenhouse and tiptoed to the back of the room. There, they found mint, basil, cilantro - all that Parvati searched for but one: rosemary.

"We _must_ have rosemary!" said Parvati as she searched fruitlessly for the herb.

"How does it look, Parvati?" asked Lavender.

"It's lovely! It has many stalks as well as beautiful flowers, pink and blue and violet. They're quite beautiful."

"I shall look as well, then."

"Thank you!"

After a furious hunt for the flower, Lavender at last squealed that she had found it.

"See, isn't it lovely?" asked Parvati, admiring the rosemary's purple petals. "Here, smell it!" she insisted, and Lavender breathed in its minty, pine-like scent.

"Yes, it's very lovely," agreed Lavender, though she privately admitted that neither its smell nor its bloom were quite as lovely as Parvati.

* * *

Lavender had been entirely convinced that this year would be the best Christmas she would ever have; Parvati was staying over holiday break, rather than leaving for India as she usually did. The first half of their sixth year had been highly stressful, however, and Gautami, Parvati's mother, strongly believed that Parvati should remain at Hogwarts for the benefit of her studies.

Parvati wasn't complaining, and nor was Lavender, though other students didn't appreciate Parvati's presence. She had noticed that, by the second day of break, several of the students who had certainly remained for break no longer appeared at mealtimes. Upon questioning a girl called Sally, Parvati's sister's friend who seemed to know everything about the goings-on of Hogwarts society, she discovered that it was because of the Patil girls' continued residence at Hogwarts that several students had been pulled out for the break, their families not wishing their children to associate with such uncultured people as the Indians. Pansy Parkinson, said Sally, was actually considering leaving Hogwarts for a school "in which chee-chees were not allowed to attend." Lavender didn't understand; Parvati Patil was the most beautiful girl to have ever existed, both inside and out. She was friendly and funny and oh-so-lovely. Did nobody see that but she?

Lavender expressed this to her friend as they unwrapped their gifts Christmas morning; Parvati merely sighed. "Thank you, Lavender, I really do thank you. I don't understand, either, why we're so hated."  
"You're not hated!" insisted Lavender. "Not by all of us!"

"It doesn't matter," Parvati said sadly. "It's not as if I can visit you, even if _you_ don't despise me."

She was right; Mr. Brown would never let an Indian cross his threshold. Parvati had never been to Lavender's house.

They sat in silence for several moments, and Parvati began to cry. Lavender leaped onto the plush scarlet comforter that lined Parvati's bed and pulled her friend into a tight hug. Parvati hugged her back, gripping Lavender as if letting go would mean her death, and sobbed into Lavender's shoulders. "I'm so sorry," wailed Parvati. "I'm so very sorry."

"You ought never be sorry, Parvati."

"I know, I know. I've simply been conditioned to reply to anything with a 'sorry,'" said Parvati, giving a short little laugh through all her tears. "As if everything is my fault."

"Nothing's your fault at all, Parvati. You're absolutely perfect."

"Thank you, Lavender. You're ever so vacuous."

"You're completely welcome."

Parvati continued to cry for several minutes until she finally relaxed into Lavender's arms. "Thank you, again."

"You're welcome, again. My aunt sent a box of cheeses for Christmas; would you like some?"

"Yes, alright."

Lavender opened the cooled box of fine cheese, its strong aroma wafting over to both of them, and handed over a slice to Parvati, but before she knew it, it had slapped her square in the face. "Parvati! You've thrown cheese at me!"

"Yes, I see."

"You little - "

And they began to take more and more slices of Aunt Ethel's cheese, lobbing them at one another with loud laughter.

"Thanks so much, Lavender."

"You're ever so welcome, Parvati. Again."

* * *

For many years Lavender had anticipated the day she moved out of the home she shared with her father and mother, but never would she have expected that she would share her flat with her best friend.

The smell of wet paint still hung in the air as the two girls, in their twenties now, stepped into the little yellow foyer, giggling in excitement. The small home was everything Lavender would have wished for and more, now that Parvati was to join her, and she turned to her friend and enveloped her in another of many hugs.

Parvati hugged her back tightly, grinning in excitement. "I love you so much!"

"As do I you!" replied Lavender. Whether her love was platonic or romantic, Lavender would never quite be sure.


End file.
